A few months ago I bought a used 2001 Suzuki Katana 600 with about 11,000 miles on it. I rode it without any issues for the first month or so. After that I started having occasional issues with starting it up.
The first few times button start would not work instantly. I would have to re-try a couple times before the motorbike started up.
Then a couple times button start did not work even after a few attempts. Push starting, however, worked.
Note that in between these isolated incidents button start would work normally -- that is, at the first attempt.
Finally, a couple of days ago, after not having ridden the motorbike for nearly three weeks, I tried starting it up. Button start did not work, even after several attempts, and neither did push start. I checked the voltage across the battery terminals and it read approximately 10.5V. So I bought a trickle charger and hooked it up. Five hours later, still no luck. So I took the battery to a mechanic for a load test and the mechanic said it was fine.
I suspect the starter motor but I hear it whirring each time I press the button (as opposed to hearing just a clicking sound); it just doesn't start the engine. One thing to note is that if I keep trying the button start the start motor whirrs slower on each attempt. Eventually it grinds to a halt. Then if I let the motorcycle "rest" for a couple of hours and try again, its the same cycle all over again.
What else could be wrong?
I have dropped off the motorbike with the mechanic but I am new to motorcycles and don't want to be taken for a ride (pun not intended) by the mechanic. At best I would like to do the repairs myself so I can learn more about my motorcycle and save on labor costs but even if I have to pay a mechanic to fix the problem I would like to go in prepared with knowledge of possible problems.
Thank you!